#Shame - Fantasy Eastern Feb 10-17th 2018 - Our second SWDAS

[jedijill]

Joining as I am on an Eastern in August.

As for the 21 and over rule, I recall that 21 yo's used to be allowed in the club but there was an incident and DCL decided to draw a hard line in the sand. Too bad one bad apple had to spoil it for everyone.

Jill in CO

 

[Cheerio]

Joining as I am on an Eastern in August.

As for the 21 and over rule, I recall that 21 yo's used to be allowed in the club but there was an incident and DCL decided to draw a hard line in the sand. Too bad one bad apple had to spoil it for everyone.

Jill in CO

I understand 21+, I'm talking when there is a handful of kids most barely 18 (DS turned 18 6 weeks before our cruise) or something more structured for them

 

[Cheerio]

LOL, I think my oldest would probably have to sleep it off too! Oh man! Sounds like a fun day otherwise!

Was fun! He definitely won't forget that day haha!

 

[Billinaz]

(we asked DCL for a private space but they don't do that anymore) based on the fact that most people were just getting on the ship, our event was a bust but it was great meeting those who did come out.

We had about 200 for our meet and greet on May 5, and DCL reserved the TUBE for us. We had 7 bartenders, then they sent out for more of them to keep up!

 

[Cheerio]

We had about 200 for our meet and greet on May 5, and DCL reserved the TUBE for us. We had 7 bartenders, then they sent out for more of them to keep up!

Did you have beverage service? We just wanted a place to meet, no food or alcohol.

 

[Billinaz]

Did you have beverage service? We just wanted a place to meet, no food or alcohol.

Yes, both alcoholic and non alcoholic.

 

[Cheerio]

Yes, both alcoholic and non alcoholic.

That's why you got private space. We just wanted a free room, if we had done the drink service per hour, we could have had the tube too.

 

[Cheerio]

February 14th - Valentines Day and St.Thomas

Hi all! Sorry I kind of dropped the ball on this one - I did write out my report in word but then forgot to update it! Now my photos aren't working correctly so just bear with me as I get them fixed tomorrow!

Woke up this morning and we were already docked in St.Thomas, Happy Valentines Day to us! Went up to Cabanas for breakfast, it was sunny and humid, we watched a bit of Pocahontas while we ate. I nursed a coffee, too much fun the night prior I think. Today's plans, were to shop for souvenirs and go to the butterfly farm for a bit. Kevin and Dylan weren't particularly interested in coming off the ship so they did their own thing. We got off the ship and started to wander toward where the butterfly farm was, only to find out it was closed down permanently We were here back in 2014 but opted to do an excursion vs wander port too much, so we missed out. Instead, we shopped, took some photos and just enjoyed the sunshine. We loved chatting with the vendors about how the hurricane impacted them and many were quick to say they had minimal damage compared to other islands. We did our part, put some money in their economy

We were back on the ship for lunch, so hubby and I snuck off to Royal Court for a special couples lunch . After lunch, we went to hang out in the hot tub for a bit, it was so quiet on the ship. DD had asked if we could go do Valentine crafts in the afternoon so we did that and then took her to swim for a bit and then back to the room to get ready for dinner - which was in Animators Palette and would be our "show" night.

After dinner, the kids went off to do their own activities, we went to O'Gills for the 90's music trivia and then rounded up DD who wanted to go trade some pins and line up for mickey and minnie who would be at Preludes.

After the photo, we went back into mickey's mainsail and ended up buying a small plush pluto to add to her collection and that's when our magical moment began. You know, the one that makes it all worth spending thousands on the cruise, planning for two years, driving with four kids for 24+ hours ... (DD had one of these back on our first cruise you can read about here - https://www.disboards.com/threads/sailing-the-magic-jan-21-28th-2012-complete.3185529/#post-49815103) She looks up and spots Pluto and his handler, alone on the deck 4 balcony overlooking the atrium and I kid you not, runs up the stairs, zooms past the vista cafe and right to him. By this point, his handler must have noticed her coming, since Pluto started jumping and waving at her. By the time we got there, she had a few minutes to chat with them - Pluto was so excited to see a stuffed Pluto that his tail was wagging. I took a bunch of photos, we spent about 5 minutes with him before someone else came along - it was such a special moment for her. Again, some happy tears and some cute photos to go with it.

After that, she took off back to her club for the flash mob practice. We had heard to be in the atrium for something special to do with star wars, and did Disney ever deliver! I will link the video but not sure if it will work. In a nutshell, Darth Vader and his crew landed on the ship, we'd be up for a battle the next day!

https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=B1326FD8FB2A2C5E&resid=B1326FD8FB2A2C5E!7277&authkey=AGrLRlrdulhllQg

After the show, we went to the Tube for a bit for dancing with friends and then ended with a nightcap in Meridian. I don't think we went to bed before 2am, despite saying we needed to get to bed early as tomorrow is Star Wars Day at Sea!

This cute towel animal was left on our bed with some chocolates.

Up next... two Chewbaccas? How is that even possible?

 

[stacaka4321]

February 13th - St.Maarten - Catamaran Day

so I was pretty disappointed when they switched our port from Tortola to St.Maarten as we had booked specifically to go to Tortola to swim with the dolphins.

?

Not going to lie, we did the dolphins in Tortola in 2017 and we were soooo disappointed with the excursion. We honestly couldn't even believe it was part of what Disney offered. You did get to be in the water with the dolphin for about 15 minutes but you were with 20 other people and your interaction with the dolphin lasted about 30 seconds. I bet you had way more fun in St. Maarten then you would have "swimming". Then again, maybe there was a better option you had found that would be been great. Either way, glad you had fun and sorry you had to change your plans!

 

[Cheerio]

Aww that sounds like a bust. We had a ton of fun in St.Maarten, just Tortola is on my bucket list, I wanted to just cross it off. Guess I need to try again

 

[Cheerio]

February 15th - Star Wars Day at Sea

At some point this day, we booked a placeholder - but we've since cancelled it since we don't plan to cruise until 2022 - on one of the new ships.

Woke up this morning about 8am, two of the kids were already upstairs eating. Woke up the rest of the crew for breakfast, grabbed a second coffee watched the last little bit of the BB8 races in the Atrium. This is our second SWDAS, we found it to be a lot more organized and less crowded. Not sure if it was just because we knew what to expect, or if DCL really had it down two years later. By 9am we were in Skyline Lounge to meet Darth Vader, only about 3 families in line ahead of us so it went fast. Then we went over to Animators Palette to meet with Chewbacca, which was DH's dream come true. On our last cruise, they didn't do Meet N Greets with him, we did have a face to face on deck 4 if you want to go back and read about that. Chewy obviously noticed DH was balding, but furry all over, he kept rubbing his head.

We headed back to the room to change for the pool, we hung out in the hot tub and pool, the kids ran off to various clubs and my oldest went to spend some time on the Aqua Duck. We grabbed some lunch from the pool deck, I feel like by this point we were eating even though we couldn't possibly be hungry. At 1pm we lined up to meet R2D2 and C-3PO in animators palette. This took a wee bit longer, but it was because we were first in line - it went fast once they came out.
Mid afternoon the kids had jedi training which was in the WDT - we didn't do this last cruise and it was a lot of fun.

I took DD swimming while my boys and travel companions went to see the Last Jedi before dinner. Tonight we were in Animators again, always love eating in here it's so fun, the Star Wars menu was just as good as last cruise's. After dinner we checked out the superfan contest and then went to Meridian for a little bit while the Kids ran to clubs to do some SW activities. I went back to the room to begin the sad tradition of packing up. I try to do it on Thursday's so that I don't come back from Castaway to spend hours doing it, also packed our day bag for the beach - easier than doing it in the morning half asleep. Plus who wants to waste beach time packing a bag?

At 10pm, we went up to deck 13 to get ready for Summon the Force, DCL's light and firework show - we try to sit up where the entrance to the Aqua Duck is.

We like being up a level so we can see everything below. We stayed to watch the littles dance away at the deck party and then went to the buffet where we ate nachos, again, not hungry, just eating because. We went down to the Tube to watch the end of the super fan contest and then I stayed to dance with some of my cruise friends while DH went to see Black Panther, there was a PremEAR at midnight. Before I went back to the room, I grabbed some pizza from Luigi's to have in the room for when the movie was over. I was sound asleep when they rolled in, you need sleep before a day in the sun with the mouse I feel like this day is so jam packed with activities, glad we were able to pick and choose what we did - most times our family was off doing their own thing - kind of like a choose your own adventure.

Up next, are we docked yet??

 

[lovingeire]

I am dying to do a SWDAS cruise, but I think that might be a while as I think our next cruise will be Alaska. Unless I can catch a last minute deal! (Although I may risk divorce...unless it's a REALLY good deal! )

 

[Cheerio]

I am dying to do a SWDAS cruise, but I think that might be a while as I think our next cruise will be Alaska. Unless I can catch a last minute deal! (Although I may risk divorce...unless it's a REALLY good deal! )

You know you want to take DS to St.Maarten soon haha I've seen a few good deals, Jan/Feb mostly.

 

[Cheerio]

February 16th - Castaway Cay

Easily our favourite day of the cruise! I was awake at 8am, grabbed a coffee and went up to deck 13 forward, at this point we were still approaching the island and couldn't see it yet. There were only a few people up there, so quiet and serene. About 9am I started to see land, went to wake everyone and headed up to Cabanas for breakfast - all ashore time was 9:45. We ate, changed into bathing suits, grabbed our day bag and headed down the midship elevators - except everyone else had the same idea. The gangway area of deck 1 was packed, it was pretty warm but only took about 5 minutes until we were on the island. Again a tip, grab towels from the pool deck so you can have them nicely in a bag somewhere instead of carrying a stack on your way. We took the tram over to the second stop, we always love sitting by Cookies Too and the slide. I took an opportunity to lather the kids up again and off they went - swimming, sunbathing - it was a wonderful morning. The water wasn't too cold and it was about 24 degrees, just beautiful. We had lunch about 11:30am and then my oldest wandered off to meet his 1820 friends for a bike ride around the island.

At one point, we ran into Olaf, who was clearly hot and melting. We spent our afternoon having tropical depressions, swimming, sunning, eating our weight in BBQ treats and ice cream - it was perfection. It was our 4th visit to the island and we are still 0/4 for seeing mount rustmore, next visit for sure! About 3pm we started to pack up and head back to the ship. DD was in a club production of the "Lion King Experience" as Simba and she had her performance in D-Lounge at 4:15pm and she needed a shower. We had received an invite on our door earlier in the week, last minute it was moved to the Tube but we still made it. We all headed to shower and then watched the show which was super cute.

Afterward, we headed up to Meridian for sail away, we get the prettiest photos up there.

Dinner tonight was in Enchanted Garden, we ate a ton, said goodbye to Sayo and Cindy since we do breakfast in Cabanas before getting kicked off the ship The kids went off to their respective clubs, we went to the 2000's music trivia in O'Gills, went to see Disney's Believe, finished packing and putting out our luggage, headed to watch the See Ya Real Soon show in the atrium - it always makes me cry. We checked out the tube for a bit and then finished off our night in Meridian. We could see lots of lights from the islands around us, it was so quiet and serene. We were in bed by midnight - resting up for our big drive home.

Up next, getting the boot and the drive home